


The Turning Wind

by Katzedecimal



Series: Frenemy Mine [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Season 2, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 21:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5680828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katzedecimal/pseuds/Katzedecimal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry has a lot of explaining to do, but Henry isn't sure he's not hearing more than Barry is saying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Turning Wind

"I can't believe this!"

Barry's eyes flicked up at Cisco, then back to the CCTV footage on the monitor. 

"I just can't friggin' believe it!" Cisco continued, hitting the replay button again. The footage flicked back to the beginning, following the Pied Piper as he entered the STAR Labs complex and strolled casually down its corridors, right past Cisco and Caitlin as they worked on another project, towards the medical bay. "He _walked right past us_ and we didn't even notice! How the hell did he do that? And how did he even get in here?"

"Probably the same way Golden Glider did," Barry said dryly, "He has a point, we don't exactly take security here seriously."

Cisco drew himself up, indignant, "Are you kidding me?!"

"Says the man who gave his new girlfriend the grand tour and introduced her to the Arrow's team, yeah," Barry nodded.

Cisco remembered the weird 'vibe' he'd gotten from the woman, the vision of the hawk-woman that had prompted him to, aheh, take her under his wing and bring her into the protection of STAR Labs in the first place. He shifted uncomfortably, "That's different and you know it, she's..."

"You barely knew her, Cisco."

"Okay, point taken, but we **do** know about Rathaway, he's a **jerk** , what was he even doing in your room?!"

"Helping me sleep," Barry replied, "He came to help me with the pain." He nodded towards the footage, "And as you can see, once I was asleep, he left again."

"Okay, that... doesn't seem like a very jerk thing to do," Cisco admitted, "But why didn't we notice? You weren't that far away, we should have heard the flute at least."

Barry nodded, "You did. It produces sound waves that make you not notice it. I'm not entirely clear on how it works, but he was using the same principles to put me to sleep. The flute acts on your brainwaves in certain ways, like I said I don't fully understand it."

Cisco nodded slowly and finally conceded, "Okay, that's pretty cool."

"More to the point, Barry," Detective West leaned forward, "The man is a wanted criminal and you have been hanging out with him. Why?"

Barry pushed his hands through his hair and sighed. "After Ronnie died, I just... I needed a break. I needed to deal with it and... Anyhow, the place I ducked into turned out to be Pied Piper's. But he kind of called a truce and took care of me until I could cope and then... The accident left him deafened so I offered to learn sign language with him, as a peace offering, and he took it up."

"He's wanted for extortion. You know that. You were there when we interviewed one of his victims."

Barry nodded and sighed again, "Yes. And I was there when we picked up that victim's son, again. I gathered the evidence to convict him - again. And Stonebridge buys him off, again and again and again."

Joe's eyes narrowed, "And that excuses it?"

"The Piper's been tracing Craig's supply lines. When he's gathered enough, he'll turn it over to his contact in the FBI. He's almost there. That's worth it to me, to see Craig Stonebridge stopped."

Joe lowered his head but finally nodded, "Yes, I can see it like that. It's not like we haven't done bargains like that before, us and the feds. But what's he doing with the money?"

Barry nodded towards the monitors, "Developing that, and a lot of other weapons."

"To fight you?"

Barry shook his head, "To fight Zoom. He's the one who saved those two people the other night. That's why Zoom collapsed like he did."

"Yeah," Cisco nodded, "I thought that looked familiar. It looked just like when Pied Piper locks you up."

"It was, same trick," Barry nodded, "Only Zoom shook it off, fast. He kept calling Piper 'Fiddler.'"

"Hartley's Earth-2 counterpart."

"Yeah. So he knew about it and he knew how to break it. That's why Piper's got more under development. He's trying to stay a step ahead of Zoom."

Caitlin frowned, "So all those fights you've had, all those times you've let the Pied Piper get away, they've been... what, practice?"

Barry smiled, "Yes, exactly."

"So, why doesn't he develop them here? I mean, STAR Labs..."

"Are you kidding me?" Cisco exploded, staring at her, "We don't need that jerk! We're keeping ahead of Zoom alright ourselves!"

"Not for much longer," Barry said, feeling sheepish, "Hartley asked if I'd looked at our books lately and he's right, I haven't. I don't know anything about business. I know Dr. Wells left us a lot but we're going through it really fast and we have no way of replenishing it." Cisco stared at the floor and Caitlin chewed her lip. Detective West was silent. "The fact is, there's two things that none of us can do, that we've been missing ever since Dr. Wells died. We don't know anything about business, and none of us are very good at strategy. Are we?"

The silence dragged out until Cisco finally said, "There's Harry."

"After what you told me you vibed off of him?" Cisco looked away. "Look, I know you don't like Hartley, Cisco, but we really need what he's got. He knows how to run a big business, he knows STAR Labs, and he's good at strategic thinking. That's why he took me down so easily, that's why he could take down Zoom without getting hurt." Barry looked apologetically at Detective West, "Right now, I need that."

* * * *

"Hey, tiger."

Barry looked up and felt a wave of joy and relief wash over him, "Dad!" He got up to hug the older man. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see my son," Henry Allen smiled, then conceded, "Joe said you've been acting a little cagey lately."

Barry rolled his eyes and translated, "He's still upset that I'm hanging out with a known criminal."

Henry tipped his head, "He might be. But I trust you, Barry. You've got a good sense for people. He can't be that bad if you like him."

Barry snorted. "I trusted Doctor Wells and look who he turned out to be." He sighed heavily, "That's what's bothering me. I thought I had a good 'people sense', too, but..."

"But?"

"Hartley told me what Cisco did, when he took his implants."

"Implants?" 

"Yeah, the particle accelorator accident left Hartley deaf and he has these implants that suppress the tinnitus so he can hear but they hurt to use."

Henry's face clouded with distaste, "And Cisco took them away."

Barry nodded, "And then he gloated over it." Henry was silent. "That's what's bothering me the most. Cisco _gloated_ over it, and he acted like Hartley _deserved_ what had happened to him because he'd been a jerk. He was a jerk, he didn't like him, so he deserved to have his hearing destroyed? I didn't think Cisco could be cruel like that."

Henry nodded, silently. Barry got up and paced a few times, then sat down again. He pushed his hands through his hair. "I keep thinking back to something Hartley said. He said there was a difference between **trying** to kill someone and trying to **kill** someone." He scrubbed his hands through his hair and down his face. "Patty tried to kill Mark Mardon, the Weather Wizard."

"And Patty is...?"

"Patty Spivot, Joe's new partner. And... and my girlfriend."

**"Oh."**

"Yeah. She wasn't **trying** to kill him. She was trying to **kill** him. The Flash was able to talk her down but..." Barry sighed again, "The Pied Piper didn't actually hurt anyone and when he fought The Flash, he hurt me but he didn't incapacitate me. I was meant to escape. Right now, yeah he's blackmailing one-percenters, but he's also feeding information to the FBI and it's leading to a couple of untouchable criminals finally getting their dues."

Henry nodded again. "So, what I'm hearing is, everybody's got a grey side. It's just that you met Hartley's grey side first and his lighter side later, and with Cisco, you're only now seeing his grey side."

Barry stared at his father for several moments before looking away with another sigh. "Yeah. I guess you're right. The thing is, I _like_ Hartley. I like him a lot and we have a lot of fun together."

"So?"

"But Joe wants him brought in. And I don't know what to tell him about Patty."

Henry nodded, feeling slightly puzzled. "Yeah, that's hard. That's not good in a cop."

"No, especially nowadays," Barry agreed, "There's already too much police brutality as it is. A cop who gives into revenge that easily?"

"Tell me about her?" Henry prompted. 

Barry shrugged, "She's nice - usually. She wanted onto Joe's metahuman taskforce, she begged him to get onto it. She's really keen but... I guess now I know why."

Henry pursed his lips but waited. Nothing else seemed to be forthcoming. "Joe said he lost contact with you for a little while, after the incident with Zoom?"

"I needed some time to myself," Barry admitted, "For myself. I mean, Zoom nearly killed me and he broke my spine, I'd've been paralysed for life if I wasn't The Flash. I needed to get away from everyone for a bit."

Henry looked away, realizing in hindsight how much pressure Barry had been under. "I'm sorry," Henry said quietly. 

Barry shook his head and shrugged. "Hartley came to visit me while I was still bedridden, and when I needed to leave, I spent the time with him. We went to an ASL immersion weekend. It was **so** much fun. We played Battleship in ASL, Hartley totally smoked me every time, that guy is such a genius!"

"You're learning sign language now?"

"We're learning it together," Barry nodded, "Hartley's deaf without his implants and he needs to be able to communicate if they're ever taken away again. I offered it as a peace offering but I love it and by the end of the weekend, we were both able to understand quite a lot. We're using it more and more often and we were thinking of attending a Deaf event together."

Henry nodded again, hiding his bewilderment at what he was hearing between the lines. "Something's bothering you about him?"

"He's homeless," Barry said, "And I can't help him. If I still lived on my own, I could take him in, but I live with Joe now and I can't even put him up at STAR Labs because of Cisco."

Henry frowned, "But you spent a weekend with him?"

"At his safehouse," Barry nodded, "Which isn't a house, isn't that safe, and isn't comfortable. Or warm. I brought him pizza or we'd go out for chinese food together. He _could_ have a house but he's spending all the money he's getting on developing ways to stop Zoom. To help The Flash."

"He takes you in and shares what he has with you and helps you out. And this is the Flash's enemy," Henry grinned.

"And this is the Flash's enemy, right. And my girlfriend tried to kill the Weather Wizard out of revenge. It's like everything's all tangled up, flipped around."

"No wonder you're confused," Henry said gently.

"I guess so," Barry said. He leaned into his father's warmth as Henry started rubbing his back. "It's like you said, everything's grey. I like Cisco and I really like Hartley. Hartley's right about STAR Labs not sustaining itself and I know he's got the business smarts to do something about it but I can't ask him because of Cisco."

"You don't think he's professional enough to work around Cisco?"

"I think he could, but he's got a point, I don't think **Cisco** is professional enough to work around Hartley."

_"Ah."_

"And I really don't want to disrupt the sort of thing we've got going there."

Henry nodded, "But on the other hand, an income would be good, too."

Barry sighed. "I guess I'll just have to suck it up and ask them to start treating it like a business again. I've got a few other contacts I can talk to, maybe they can give me some advice."

* * * *

Hartley sat back, pushed his glasses up his forehead, and rubbed his eyes. He stretched, flexing his stiff shoulders, and looked at the time. Just about time to go; just as well, he was feeling hungry. He took the cup of sanitising solution and plucked out a wire. He took a breath, steeling himself, and threaded the implant into his ear. The wailing tinnitus faded.

He turned his head, following the sounds of chirping, scuffling, and chittering laughter. The implants were **good** , he'd give them that -- he shouldn't be able to hear these sounds, they were out of normal human range. Some of them were out of _bats'_ range. But they were common in the walls and ceilings of abandoned buildings. 

"Hey fellas," he called gently and a few of the shadowy shapes slunk towards him. Well, some slunk, younger ones bounced around like popcorn. The rats had started responding to his flutes, much to his surprise. They were still cautious around him but he was gradually gaining their trust. Rats were intelligent, he knew that, and could be trained like dogs. Better than dogs, they could do even more complex tasks. "I have to go now," he told them, his voice still soothing, "I'll bring you guys some snacks later, okay?" A few of the braver ones came up for pats, then slipped away back into the walls. He reached for his coat and set out into the night. 

_My parents would have a fit if they saw me,_ he thought as he walked up the steps of his destination, _A Rathaway, volunteering at a community homeless kitchen? Not unless it was some kind of charity event photo op._ Hartley snorted to himself as he opened the door.

"Y'okay, Hart?" Jeremy asked.

Hartley chuckled and shucked his coat, "Yeah. Just thinking about my parents. They would **not** be proud to see me doing this."

Jeremy nodded, "I know what you mean. My 'rents think I'm 'wasting my talents', not to mention all my schooling. It's like they think I shouldn't cook if it's not for the restaurant." Jeremy was a Red Seal chef at a very prestigious restaurant, who volunteered at the kitchen. "At least here, it's all being eaten." 

Around them, several of the other volunteers, also restaurant cooks, there was a chorus of heartfelt agreement. Amanda, a sous-chef, curled her lip, "It's not getting dumped into the trash just because it got a little over-seared."

"Or the al dente pasta was 'undercooked.'"

"Or the carrots weren't perfectly carrot-shaped."

"Don't you save it and bring it here?" Hartley asked. 

Jeremy shook his head, "Not allowed. Health code regulations."

"Not to mention the owners get pissed off," Amanda said, "They'd literally rather see it go to waste into the garbage than donate it, like what the hell?" There was a chorus of agreement.

Hartley's lips pressed into a thin line -- his own parents had that kind of attitude. And health regulations wouldn't allow perfectly good food to be donated? What the heck? It's not like it wouldn't be consumed immediately. There were seldom any leftovers here, and one of the perks of volunteering was being able to take some home to feed himself. He shook his head, baffled by it all. 

Then an idea struck him and he looked up. "What if somebody stole it?"


End file.
